Colorado Trip Part One

We had the pleasure of spending 23 days traveling to Colorado this past month. This should come as no surprise, but I took way too many photos so I will break the trip out into three blogs, one for each week of our trip.

The first week was spent in the quaint town of Nederland, nestled in the Rocky Mountains just west of Denver. We were able to visit some family in the area, which was definitely a highlight as I hadn't seen them in quite some time.

Some of my favorite parts included trying out Epic Sky Trek, driving through the Peak to Peak Scenic Highway, visiting the Rocky Mountains National Park and hiking to Sky Pond, and visiting the Garden of the Gods.

Epic Sky Trek, an amazing and challenging Aerial Trekking Course, was a unique experience featuring a four layered structure of obstacles from ropes and swings to benches and carts. You are hooked up the entire time for safety and have to work your way through these different obstacles with varying heights and difficulty. It turned out to be very exhausting!

The Peak to Peak Scenic Highway started near Nederland and went a couple dozen miles north to the Rocky Mountains National Park. It was a beautiful section of road going right through the mountains and featured a beautiful historic church (Chapel on the Rock), as well as Lake Lilly.

This led me to the National Park, where I had the goal of reaching Sky Pond, an epic and beautiful spot nestled next to a mountain formation called The Sharktooth (which has a peak elevation of 12,630 feet). The journey ended up being much more challenging than expected, being a 10 mile-round trip. After a four hour hike, I finally made it to Sky Pond. On the way, I passed by several amazing waterfalls and two other amazing lakes - The Loch and The Lake of Glass. It's definitely worth the journey if you're properly prepared, just don't over-encumber yourself with too much camera equipment!

CHECK OUT THIS 360 OF LAKE OF GLASS

The last memorable location was Garden of the Gods, quite a bold name! Located in a relatively flat area, the park is littered with large red rock formations sticking out of the ground. The trails were beautifully laced throughout with a scenic road circling the entire park for different hiking trails. Definitely worth the trip!

Below are some of my favorite photos from this week of the trip, stay tuned next week for photos from week 2 in Colorado!

WATCH AERIAL VIDEO OF WEEK ONE

Colorado Part 2 of 3

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Aerial Day 8 Nederland (4)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Aerial Day 8 Peak to Peak Highway (14)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Aerial Day 8 Peak to Peak Highway (17)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Aerial Day 8 Peak to Peak Highway (2)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Aerial Day 8 Peak to Peak Highway (26)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 4 (61)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 4 Nederland (2)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 5 Garden of the Gods (27)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 5 Garden of the Gods (95)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 5 Helen Falls (9)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 6 Peak to Peak Highway (10)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 6 Peak to Peak Highway (127)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 6 Peak to Peak Highway (30)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 6 Rocky Mountains Sky Pond Hike (121)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 6 Rocky Mountains Sky Pond Hike (155)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 6 Rocky Mountains Sky Pond Hike (158)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 6 Rocky Mountains Sky Pond Hike (61)

2018-08 CO Colorado Trip Day 6 Rocky Mountains Sky Pond Hike Chipmunk (3)

2018-08 IA Colorado Trip Day 2 (131)

2018-08 IA Colorado Trip Day 2 (148)

2018-08 IA Colorado Trip Day 2 Maquoketa Caves State Park (2)

2018-08 IA Colorado Trip Day 2 Maquoketa Caves State Park (41)

2018-08 NE Colorado Trip Day 3 (110)

2018-08 NE Colorado Trip Day 3 (52)

2018-09 Colorado Trip Panorama (15)